The pre-European Maori had no history of maritime whaling,
that being the active pursuit and capture of medium to large whales by harpooning
or other means. They relied instead on incidental captures and strandings.
The reasons were that their canoes were unsuited to this type of fishing;
whaling was too dangerous; and fish were abundant and easy to catch using
existing technology. Artefacts such as harpoon points and similar equipment
for taking large mammals at sea are sparse in the New Zealand archaeological
record. Dolphins were harpooned on occasions. At Akaroa, New Zealand about
1840, a dolphin hunt was witnessed being conducted by two canoes of Ngai Tahu,the
harpooner using a bone-tipped wooden lance and flax line. The dolphin was
chopped into pieces, briefly roasted and a dozen men ate about 25 kg of meat
before turning the remainder over to the women and children. Small coastal
dolphins were probably also taken in large beach seines. On other occasions,
species such as pilot whales, which have a predisposition to mass stranding,
would have been assisted ashore and, along with any large whales which had
stranded, would have been considered a gift from the sea, from Tangaroa, and
exploited for their meat, fat, oil and bone. Through history,strandings have
been (and still are) an occasion for awe, for sorrow (at the death of a distant
relative), and ultimately a cause for elation at the bounty provided.

Arrival of European Whalers
In the late 18th century, this reliance on strandings and natural events changed
with the arrival in the South Pacific of European whalers intent in the pursuit
of two valuable commercial commodities, whale oil - especially sperm whale
oil, a fuel for lighting - and whale bone (baleen) from right whales, which
was used as a precursor for sprig steel in the manufacture of buggy whip handles,
corset stays, and parasols. The process of trying out oil from both sperm
whales and "black" or right whales was very wasteful. As soon as
the whalebone, blubber and sperm whale heads were secured, the carcass was
cut adrift, to eventually sink or wash ashore thus providing Maori with a
much greater supply of whale meat and fat than was previously available. In
1827, as John Boultbee observed: "As we were pulling along shore on our
way, we saw a number of wild looking fellows on a rocky beach cutting a whale
into hunks and carrying it away, they were as greasy and dirty as might be
expected from the nature of their employment. It seems the Lynx had been in
these parts, and struck several whales which got away, and this was one of
them". Twelve years later, in 1839, Ernst Dieffenbach was observing whaling
operations at Te Awaiti in Tory Channel. He noted: "As soon as the process
of cutting was over, the natives, who had come with their canoes from the
Sound, cut off large pieces of flesh which they carried off to feast upon:'
Removal of meat for local consumption became a common practice at bay whaling
stations around New Zealand.

Rules for distribution of the spoils from a stranding were
rigidly adhered to. Each hapu of the community was allotted a share of any
stranding which occurred within the group's territory. Failure to observe
these rules led to inter-family quarrels which could cause fluctuations in
the membership of the community. The first record of a visit to New Zealand
waters by a whaling vessel is that of the William and Ann, which anchored
in Doubtless Bay in 1792. About this time European sealing around the southern
coasts and offshore islands began. Although a few young Maori joined the gangs
there is no evidence of extensive Maori participation in this trade. Seals
were taken by early Maori for their meat, energy-rich fat and skins. Recent
studies suggest that in the north of the North Island, Maori may have exhausted
their seal fisheries as early as 1300. European sealing began in the south
of the South Island in the last decade of the 1700s. The dried skins were
sent to China and salted skins to Europe. Abuses by European sealers soon
led to the rapid depletion of seal fisheries. Gangs killed seals on the rookeries,
disrupting the colonies, and all seals available including breeding females
were taken. In some areas Maori protested, demonstrating that their protection
and conservation practices had maintained stocks. There is evidence, however,
that elsewhere Maori later joined withsealing gangs, splitting profits. By
the 1820s sealing was in rapid decline, and by the 1840s the fishery was reduced
to commercial non-viability. The arrival of the William and Ann at Doubtless
Bay in 1792 and the Britannia around the Three Kings and Northland in 1793
made an indelible impression on local Maori and influenced their future relationship
with whaling. For young Maori the adventure of voyaging in foreign whaleships
and the challenge of chasing and harpooning whales was often exhilarating.
The skippers of the whalers, often from Nantucket, were frugal, hardworking
Quakers with a strong kinship ethic. They often took black and native Americans
as crew and, in the South Pacific, impressed by the seamanship of Polynesians,
soon recruited Maori and other Pacific Islanders as crew.

In 1803 the whale ship Alexander visited the Bay of Islands
and a 16 year old Maori youth, Teina, joined her crew as a sailor. On reaching
Australia, Teina stayed with the Governor, Philip Gidley King. The Alexander
returned to the New Zealand whaling grounds and made a successful voyage,
taking a number of whales. Teina and another Maori, Maki, remained aboard
the Alexander for the next three years, visiting Tahiti, Brazil, St Helena
and eventually England, where Teina and two Tahitians subsequently died. Maki,
however, survived and worked as a carpenter before being "crimped"
on to another English vessel.

In 1804, a New Bedford whaler Hannah and Eliza took aboard
at least two Muriwhenua Maori into her crew and, during the next two years
of whaling off Northland, spoke to at least fifteen other ships, some of which
also took on Maori crew. Inevitably, many Maori and other Polynesians suffered
abuse from unscrupulous captains. Governor King's enthusiasm for New Zealand
and his obvious concerns and affinity for Polynesians, developed since having
Teina as a guest, led to his issuing a "Government and General Order"
published on the front page of the Sydney Gazette. It read as follows:

“It is therefore, hereby strictly forbid sending
any Otaheitian, Sandwich Islander or New Zealander from this Settlement to
any island or other part of this coast, on any sealing or other Voyage, to
any place to the eastward of Cape Horn.

During their stay here, those whose service they are
employed in are not to beat or ill-use them; but if those who brought them
to this Colony, are not able to maintain and employ them, they are to report
it to the Governor, who will take measures for their employment and maintenance
until they can be sent home. And it is to be clearly understood that all such
Otaheitians, &c., are protected in their properties, claims for wages,
and the same redress as any of His Majesty's subjects."

This proclamation is particularly significant, for it extended
to Maori and other Polynesians) some of the civil rights of British subjects
35 years before the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The crews of these whale ships
were not exclusively mainland Maori. In 1791, the Chatham Islands were discovered
by Lt William Broughton on HMS Chatham. A Moriori, Hororeka, had left the
island in about 1800 aboard a British sealer and returned in 1807. Later that
year he shipped aboard the whaler Commerce and, having previously spent time
at the Bay of Islands, was able to act as the Master's interpreter with Maori,
despite the differences in his dialect. Following the invasion of the Chatham
Islands by Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga, one Moriori, named Koche, escaped
at least twice from slavery under the Maori chief Matioro, the second time
aboard an American whaler. Koche never returned to the Chatham Islands and
it is presumed he died in the United States. However, he was the only one
of his people to leave an account of the invasion of the Chathams and the
fate of the Moriori which he related to the American lawyer Ewing in about
1850 .

Relations between Maori and the whalers were by and large
cordial. The Maori skill as market gardeners allowed them to develop a thriving
trade as provedors to the whalers, whose main priorities for supplies were
fresh water, firewood (for galley stoves and trypots), and fresh vegetables
and root crops. However, a number of unsavoury incidents culminating in the
killing and eating of 70 persons from the Boyd in 1809 led to a period of
suspicion and bloodshed between some whaling crews and Maori tribes. Nevertheless,
by 1826 Maori were prominent in whaling crews working the New Zealand grounds.
Their courage and familiarity with the sea made them excellent boat hands
and boat-steerers, with such records of success that stories of their deeds
are now part of popular whaling history.

One of the best-known is recorded in Herman Melville's Omoo.
After a long and tiring pull after a whale the Maori harpooner missed his
first three strikes. The derision and curses of his crew was hard to bear;
the next time the boat was alongside the whale he sprang on to the whale's
back with his harpoon and disappeared in a welter of foam. The whale line
smoked out of the tubs, indicating the whale was fast and moments later the
Maori harpooner climbed back aboard, honour restored . Perhaps Melville's
best known harpooner is the character Queequeg from Moby Dick. Queequeg is
described as, "a native Rokovoko, an island far away to the west and
south. It is not drawn on any maps; true places never are." He had a
full facial moko, tattooed legs and arms and had brought up (to a New England
whaling port) a number of `embalmed' New Zealand heads which he was selling
When Queequeg ended his story to Ishmael he "embraced me and pressed
his forehead against mine,. . ." a hongi (Maori greeting) perhaps?

The whaleships were international melting pots - with crews
made up of Europeans, Maori and other Polynesians, American Indians, Negroes,
Azoreans, Portuguese, Cape Verde Islanders and others. Thus it was not surprising
that wherever whaleships' crews came ashore one of their contributions was
to add substantially to the genetic diversity of the human inhabitants of
the area.

Contact between Maori women and whale crews began as soon
as whalers arrived. When the Sydney whaler Australian was in Cloudy Bay in
the spring season of 1837, Captain Rhodes invited girls aboard, writing, "The
ladies at the Bay were very condescending, and took lodgings on board the
ship, to the great satisfaction of the sailors." Even more famous (or
notorious) than Cloudy Bay was Kororareka in the Bay of Islands, which for
a few busy years was known as "the whorehouse of the Pacific". The
trader Eagleston called there in April 1834, and recorded that the women were
"fond of visiting ships . . ." John B Williams, of Salem, the second
American Consul to the Bay of Islands, was outraged by the libidinous behaviour
of American and other whaling crews. In his journal he fulminated: "Merciful
Heavens. When a ship arrives her decks are almost instantly lined with native
women - a floating castle of prostitution. [But] how can it be different when
the Masters and Officers set the example?"

Despite the inevitable spread of venereal diseases the "marriages
of convenience" between Maori and whale ship crews continued. Occasionally
lasting friendships and relationships were forged. A British captain,William
Brind of the Emily, combined the fabled comforts of the Bay of Islands and
the companionship of a wife at sea by taking a Maori girl, the daughter of
the chief Pomare, on a whaling voyage in 1827.

Shore whaling Stations
Concomitant with the influx of foreign whalers into New Zealand ports inthe
early 1800s was the establishment of shore-based whaling operations. On the
vessels, Maori whalemen had learned many skills useful not only to whaling
but which could be put into practice ashore, for example, coopering, carpentry,
and boatbuilding. These skills were to prove of particular value in later
New Zealand settlement. The earliest shore whaling stations were established
in the South Island and the first began operation near Cook Strait in 1827,
soon to be followed by many others in both islands before British sovereignty
entered with the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In almost all cases, at the commencement
of the season, negotiations were entered into with the local tribe on whose
land the station was situated. As part of the deal, wives were often provided,
thus binding the whalers by "marriage" to the local tribe. This
arrangement was usually carried out though consultation with the chief. The
Maori wives generally looked after the whalers by attending to the cooking,
making flax ropes and at times tending vegetable gardens. Many of the whalers'
partners ultimately became permanent and legal wives, but often they had to
wait some years before the union could be solemnised by a visiting Christian
missionary. The taking of wives was a mutually beneficial political manoeuvre.
The local chief had a sound money-making enterprise with employment, boats,
trypots, and the other paraphernalia of whaling at this fingertips, while
the whaler had, through marriage, the protection of the tribe during often
troubled times. During the 1830s there was often a good deal of warlike skirmishing
between tribes, especially in the South Island, between the Otakou and Murihiku
Maori. It is not surprising, therefore, that Captain Angelm of the Lucy Ann
reported serious trouble with the Maori at Otakou when the vessel returned
to Sydney in August 1834. Her cargo included not only oil and whalebone but
also a number of Maori hostages.

Despite the increasing numbers of American and other nationality
whaleships working the New Zealand coast, shore stations increased during
the decade 1830-40. At the Otakou station at the entrance to Dunedin Harbour,
Weller began operation in 1833 with an equal number of Maori and Europeans,
but four years later had twice as many Maori as Europeans. By 1839, Taiaroa,
the main chief of the area had a European-style residence and numerous whale
boats, and was running a shore whaling station. Further south at Awarua (Bluff)
Shortland (1851) noted:"Here (Awarua) was the best managed and most successful
whaling establishment on the coast. The boats were all partly manned by the
natives, and one entirely so, the young chief Patuki, or Topi,. . . being
its headsman." Howells even had a crew of Maori women. Shortland also
made a very important observation regarding the desirability of whale boats,
"the natives have, however, ceased to travel by land, if they can avoid
it, since they have so generally obtained possession of whaling and sealing
boats; for these are easily managed, and by a few hands."

The manifest superiority in sailing and sea-keeping qualities
of whale boats and seal boats over canoes was quickly recognised. Ngai Tahu
obtained their first European boats as spoils in skirmishes with sealers and
runaway sailors, and also by stealing them from anchored ships, as from the
Matilda in 1814, but the main source was by purchase during the 1830s, after
sealing was abandoned and sealing boats became available. From then on, the
traditional oceangoing canoes were progressively abandoned. In the 1840s and
later, the male Maori preoccupation, in the South Island at least, was boats,
both whale boats and seal boats, which carried them around to the fiords.
However, these boats, like canoes, were not without their dangers. In 1844,
the highly respected Ngai Tahu chief, Tuhawaiki, was swept off a whale boat
by the scything blow of a steering oar in heavy seas off Timaru and drowned,
according to conventional tradition. By the 1860s, the preference was changing
to cutters, used for fishing but desired by all of the young men for racing.
The consequence was a heavy toll by drowning.

At shore stations, as on whaleships, Maori were soon included
in boat crews and were adept boatmen and harpooners. The shore stations' boats
pursued right whales, which would enter bays on the high tide and leave them
on the ebb. Shore-based whalers soon had competition from the foreign whaleships
which would anchor in the same bays to pursue whales during the season.

Sperm whaling continued but, as the demand for bone increased,
more and more British, Sydney and French vessels turned to right whaling.
In 1834 they were joined by the first American right whalers in New Zealand
waters. Despite the increased competition, numbers of shore stations grew
between 1830 and 1840, and the numbers of Maori involved increased proportionally.
At the same time, there were growing numbers of Maori employed on American
ships which stayed in New Zealand waters and depended on local supplies for
food and provisions.

Decline of whaling
Over-exploitation of right whales around the New Zealand coast led to a dramatic
decline in catches through the 1840s. Nevertheless some local whalers struggled
on right up to the1930's but after 1840 to all intent and purpose the glory
days of whaling were over.

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